Margot Harley

Co-Founder and Producing Artistic Director

As You Like It By William Shakespeare

Directed by Richard Corley Get a FREE Poster from The Acting Company! See page 34 for info! Teacher Resource Guide by Paul Michael Fontana

It is strongly suggested that students read at least some of As You Like It

before seeing the performance.

2

Table of Contents Section 1: Introduction Page 3 Section 2: Getting Started Page 4 Section 3: The Play: Things to Look For Page 11 Section 4: The Playwright: William Shakespeare Page 17 Section 5: The Theater Page 22 Section 6: What to do After You See This Play

Page 32 Section 7: The Acting Company Page 34 Section 8: Cast List and Information Page 35 Section 9: Bibliography Page 36 Appendix: Reproducibles Page 37

3

Section 1: Introduction

“There is much matter to be heard and learn'd.!” Jaques, As You Like It, Act 5, scene 4

Thanks for taking some of your classroom time to work on As You Like It! This play asks the same questions about relationships, the pursuit of happiness and the quest for humanity in a harsh world that we ask today, even though it was written over 400 years ago. Although your students will enjoy the play without preparation, the experience can be deepened by some pre- and post-performance classroom work. The exercises in this guide are intended to help you and your students get the most out of the performance. Please do not feel that you need to do everything in this guide! They provide a wide variety of drama-based teaching techniques that you can use as they are presented or you can adapt for your class or for other pieces of literature. You can experiment with them and add the ones that work for you to your “bag of tricks.” The education programs of The Acting Company are intended to mirror the mission of the company itself: to celebrate language, to deepen creative exploration, to go places where theater isn’t always available. We try to use the same skills in our outreach programs that actors use in the preparation of a role. Many of the exercises here are adaptations of rehearsal “games” and techniques. In addition to the Teacher Resource Guides for our performances, the Education Department provides week-long artist-in-residence experiences called Literacy Through Theater, an introductory Shakespeare workshop for young theatergoers called Bob Hope Student Workshop Series, Actor-driven Workshops and Master Classes, post-performance Question and Answer Sessions, teacher training workshops called Partners in Education, and a variety of specially-designed outreach programs for high school students, college students, and adults. If you need more information on any of these programs, please call Stephen Alemán, Director of Education at 212-944-5517 or e-mail him at saleman@TheActingCompany.org. We wish to be of service to you and your students. Please contact us if there is anything we can do for you. Enjoy the Show! Paul Michael Fontana Curriculum Specialist The Acting Company

4

pfontana@theactingcompany.org

5

Section 2: Getting Started • Overall Objective: The students will have an introduction to the world of

William Shakespeare’s play, As You Like It

Brainstorm from the Title: Shakespeare’s Play This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play! Objective: • The students will explore the title of Shakespeare’s As You Like It It is strongly suggested that students read at least some of As You Like It before seeing the performance. Exercise: Have the students brainstorm a list of the types of characters, situations, emotions, themes, locations, and images they think might be included in a play called As You Like It. Write the list on newsprint. Post it before seeing As You Like It.

Discussion: Judging a Book by its Cover This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play! Objective: • The students will discuss their expectations of As You Like It from looking at

the words and images on the cover of the play script. • The students will discuss the choices made by publishers and executives to

put the images and words on the cover. Exercise: Bring in copies of the script of As You Like It. Ask the students to look at the cover of their copy and the other copies in the room. Ask them to share with the class images on the covers. What function do those images have? Note the colors on the cover. What do the colors mean and why were they chosen? Do these images help sell this edition? What words did the publishers choose to put on the cover? In what font is the title of the play? What other words or phrases are on the cover? Do these words and phrases help sell this edition? Are you more likely to buy a book or magazine based on images or words? Are there images and words on the back cover?

Why did Shakespeare choose this title? Did he feel the title would help sell tickets to the play? Post Performance follow up: Ask the students to create a poster or book cover for As You Like It. They can cut images out of magazines and newspapers or draw them. What words will they include and why?

6

The Source of the Plot This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play! Objective: • The students will trace the origin of the plot of As You Like It. • The students will identify some stories that might make good drama and

brainstorm what might have to be done with the plot to make them more theatrical.

Shakespeare's based part of As You Like It on Thomas Lodge's (c.1557-1625) prose romance novel, "Rosalynde "(1590), which in turn was based on the medieval narrative poem, "The Tale of Gamelyn." "The Tale of Gamelyn" tells of the unjust treatment of the orphaned Gamelyn by his older brother, the bloody fights between them, and Gamelyn's flight to the woods where he becomes the Robin Hood-esque leader of a happy band of outlaws. Exercise: Read the following excerpt to your students from “The Tale of Gamelyn” and assess why this story is a good source for a dramatic adaptation. What elements exist in the story that make good drama? As soon as their father was dead and in a grave, The elder brother tricked his younger brother; He took control of the younger brother’s lands and his tenant farms, He took responsibility for clothing and feeding Gamelyn. He clothed him and fed him very badly, And let his lands and his leased farms go to ruin, His parks and his woods he also let go; And sold them the farms and parks and woods to himself. So long Gamelyn was living under his brother’s control, That all the servants and staff grew afraid of him; There was no-one in the house, young or old, That would get Gamelyn angry, no matter how bold he was.

From “The Tale of Gamelyn,” Fit 1 Thomas Lodge, regarded as a minor Elizabethan writer, was the son of the Lord Mayor of London and attended Oxford University. He produced most of his literary work during the 1580's, after which he lived and traveled abroad. "Rosalynde" is his most popular work.

In As You Like It, Shakespeare follows the outline of Lodge's plot closely and develops many of its situations, such as the enmity of two sets of characters, the wrestling match, the flight to the forest, Orlando's desperate demand for food, the momentary hesitation of Orlando to save his brother from the lioness, the wooing of Rosalind disguised as Ganymede, the marriage of Celia and Oliver, the disdain of Phoebe and her use of Silvius as messenger, and the return to the court. The title, too, may come from Lodge, who in a note to his readers, writes, "If you like, so."

7

Shakespeare's most significant changes include a reduction of the violence contained in Lodge's piece and the addition of Jaques, Touchstone the clown, Martext, LeBeau, and the rustics Audrey and William.

The Plot This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play! Objective: • The students will discuss their reactions to the plot of As You Like It • The students will compare the plot to their expectations for the story Facts: Shakespeare’s plays, including As You Like It, are written in five acts. It is not known whether, during performances at Elizabethan theaters, there were full intermissions during these acts, brief musical interludes or if the play went on for two hours with no pauses. Synopsis

As the play begins, Orlando, a young nobleman whose father, Rowland de Boys, has recently died, complains to Adam, an old servant, about his brother's failure to provide him with a suitable education. When Oliver, his brother, enters they quarrel and fight. Oliver plots to destroy Orlando by getting Orlando to fight the Duke's champion wrestler, Charles.

At the Duke's palace, Rosalind, the daughter of the banished Duke Senior, is consoled by her cousin Celia. Celia’s father, Duke Frederick, is the one responsible for exiling his brother, Duke Senior. The girls and Touchstone, the Court Fool, attend the wrestling match. Charles, the Duke's wrestler, has cracked the ribs of three brothers and now faces another young challenger, Orlando. When the girls attempt unsuccessfully to convince Orlando not to fight, they are impressed with his looks and his words and wish him success. After his surprising victory, Celia and Rosalind congratulate Orlando, and Rosalind gives him a chain to wear as a token of her esteem. Orlando is so taken with Rosalind that he cannot speak. Duke Frederick is impressed with Orlando until he learns that he is the youngest son of Rowland de Boys, his enemy and friend of Rosalind's father, Duke Senior. As the girls joke about Rosalind’s sudden affection for Orlando, Duke Frederick orders Rosalind to leave the court. She is banished and must leave or will face death. Celia proposes that they should run away from court together (because Celia loves Rosalind too much to let her be exiled alone) and go to find Rosalind's father in the Forest of Arden. Fearful of the dangers they would face traveling as unaccompanied young women, Rosalind suggests that she should disguise herself as a young man. They choose new names to reflect their changed natures. Rosalind will now be “Ganymede,” the name of the Greek god Jupiter’s page, and Celia will be “Aliena,” which means "the outsider." Rosalind decides to take along Touchstone, the Jester, as a traveling companion.

In Act II, in the Forest of Arden, the exiled Duke Senior and his courtiers celebrate the simplicity of their new way of life, free of the customs and intrigues of the court. Meanwhile, the members of Duke Frederick’s court realize that Celia and Rosalind are missing and begin a search. Orlando learns from Adam that Oliver is plotting against Orlando and they escape to the Forest of Arden.

8

Rosalind disguised as “Ganymede,” Celia as “Aliena,” and Touchstone are wandering in the Forest of Arden, exhausted and weak. They learn from Corin, a shepherd, that there is a nearby cottage and some land for sale. The travelers decide to purchase the place so they can stay in this place for a while. In another part of the forest, Amiens sings a sad song while Jaques, a melancholy member of Duke Senior’s exiled band, begs him to sing again even though it makes him sad. Orlando violently comes upon the Duke’s party with his sword drawn, demanding food, but Duke Senior invites him to eat what he needs. Orlando is ashamed that he acted so rudely. He takes some food to feed Adam while Duke Senior and melancholy Jaques comment on the misfortunes of life.

Act III begins back at the palace, where Duke Frederick banishes Oliver and seizes his fortune and lands until he delivers up his brother, Orlando. Meanwhile, in the Forest, Orlando hangs verses written in praise of Rosalind on the trees while Corin and Touchstone try to outdo each other to show their cleverness. The disguised Rosalind and Celia read some of the verses written by Orlando. Rosalind learns that Orlando is also in the Forest of Arden. Rosalind is upset. She wants to see Orlando but how can she let him see her when she is dressed as a man? Orlando and Jaques pass by the disguised girls. Rosalind uses her manly disguise to speak with Orlando and tease him. She indicates that Orlando does not look like a man in the throes of love. She asserts that she can cure him of his obsessive love for Rosalind by pretending to be Rosalind and treating him badly. However, at the time appointed for the first phase of the cure “Ganymede” fears she has been stood up by Orlando. Shepherd Silvius courts shepherdess Phebe and begs her not to reject him. She tells him that because she has never experienced what Silvius is going through, she has no pity for him. When Rosalind reprimands Phebe for her hardheartedness, Phebe falls in love with “Ganymede” not knowing that “he” is a female in disguise. Now Phebe, like Silvius, knows the hopelessness of unrequited love. A subplot emerges in Act III about Touchstone’s wooing of Audrey, a simple country girl.

As Act IV begins, Rosalind meets Jaques in the forest and they talk about why he is so melancholy. When Orlando arrives late, “Ganymede” chides him but then asks Orlando to woo her as if she were truly his Rosalind. He agrees so he can pretend to talk to his love. Orlando says he would die if Rosalind did not love him, while Rosalind says there are no cases where anyone has died for love. Rosalind’s troubles multiply when Silvius brings a love note to “Ganymede” from his love, Phebe. Rosalind orders Silvius to tell Phebe that “Ganymede” will never love her unless Phebe loves Silvius. Orlando’s brother Oliver (who had been so mean to him at the play’s opening) brings a bloody handkerchief and tells how Orlando saved him from a snake and then a lion. Orlando recognized his brother Oliver, who had treated him so shamefully, but he couldn't leave him to be eaten alive. He fought the lion and saved Oliver. The brothers reconciled and went to the Duke where Orlando fainted from a flesh wound he had received in the fight. He sent Oliver to Celia and Rosalind to make his excuses for not keeping the meeting with them. On hearing this news, Rosalind faints.

9

Act V begins with an encounter between Touchstone, Audrey and William, Audrey's old beau. After a brief conversation with Touchstone, William is eager to get away. Touchstone promises to marry Audrey tomorrow. Oliver and Celia have fallen in love and are to be married the next day. Rosalind describes to Orlando the quick progression of stages that led them to marriage. While happy for his brother, Orlando is also heartsick that he cannot enjoy his own love, Rosalind. She, claiming to have magical powers, promises that Orlando, too, will wed his love tomorrow. Silvius describes the sweet misery of being in love and Phebe, Orlando and Rosalind agree with him. “Ganymede” promises all their needs will be fulfilled the next day and bids them to all meet together.

In the climactic final scene of the play, everyone meets together at Duke Senior’s camp in the Forest of Arden and all decide “Ganymede” to fulfill their oaths to marry. While “Ganymede” goes out, Touchstone enters with Audrey to join the other couples. Celia and Rosalind, no longer disguised, enter with Hymen, the Roman god of marriage, all the confusions are explained, and the four couples agree to marry. During the wedding, Orlando’s brother Jaques de Boys, the middle son of Sir Rowland, arrives to announce that Duke Frederick has had a religious conversion and returned the throne to Duke Senior. This welcome news now provides a backdrop for the merriment of the wedding festivities. Exercise: Relate the plot synopsis above to your students. Discuss the title of As You Like It in relation to its story. Discuss the brainstormed list from the previous exercise. Were any of the items on the list included in the synopsis? After seeing As You Like It, check how many items from the list were in the play.

Text-based Improv: Insult-Building Objective: • The students will explore Shakespearean language by constructing insults. Exercise: Give each student a copy of the insult-building worksheet below (reprinted in the Reproducibles section in the Appendix, page 41 to this guide). To construct a Shakespearean insult, ask them to combine one word from each of the three columns below, and preface it with "Thou.” Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Adjectives Adjectives Nouns artless base-court apple-john bawdy bat-fowling baggage beslubbering beef-witted barnacle bootless beetle-headed bladder churlish boil-brained boar-pig cockered clapper-clawed bugbear clouted clay-brained bum-bailey craven common-kissing canker-blossom currish crook-pated clack-dish dankish dismal-dreaming clotpole dissembling dizzy-eyed coxcomb

10

droning doghearted codpiece errant dread-bolted death-token fawning earth-vexing dewberry fobbing elf-skinned flap-dragon froward fat-kidneyed flax-wench frothy fen-sucked flirt-gill gleeking flap-mouthed foot-licker goatish fly-bitten fustilarian gorbellied folly-fallen giglet impertinent fool-born gudgeon infectious full-gorged haggard jarring guts-griping harpy loggerheaded half-faced hedge-pig lumpish hasty-witted horn-beast mammering hedge-born hugger-mugger mangled hell-hated joithead mewling idle-headed lewdster paunchy ill-breeding lout pribbling ill-nurtured maggot-pie puking knotty-pated malt-worm puny milk-livered mammet qualling motley-minded measle rank onion-eyed minnow reeky plume-plucked miscreant roguish pottle-deep moldwarp ruttish pox-marked mumble-news saucy reeling-ripe nut-hook spleeny rough-hewn pigeon-egg spongy rude-growing pignut surly rump-fed puttock tottering shard-borne pumpion unmuzzled sheep-biting ratsbane vain spur-galled scut venomed swag-bellied skainsmate villainous tardy-gaited strumpet warped tickle-brained varlet wayward toad-spotted vassal weedy unchin-snouted whey-face yeasty weather-bitten wagtail Another list of Shakespearean insults is found in the Appendix to this Guide

Mapping: The Forest of Arden This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play! Objectives • The students will explore choices made by an author • The students will create a map of the fictional Forest of Arden Exercise: Is the Forest of Arden a real place or a fictional one? Does the play even say in what country it takes place? Is the Forest of Arden of As You Like It written to feel like a real places or a fictional one? Brainstorm why Shakespeare might have set the play in Forest of Arden. Would the play be different if he had set it in Italy? Or Denmark? Or in the New World of the Americas?

11

Exercise: Provide the students with large sheets of paper, pencils and crayons or markers. Looking at the text of the play ask the students, working in groups of four or five, to map out the Forest of Arden on large sheets of paper. They might want to include a map legend to indicate where there are trees, hills, rocks, water, etc. Where is Duke Senior’s camp? Where are Silvius and Phebe’s flocks? Where is “Ganymede’s” cottage? Are there other landmarks and locations mentioned in the play? And how far is the Forest of Arden from the court and in which direction? Allow an appropriate time for the students to discuss, design, draw and revise. Have each group present their map to the class.

Characters in As You Like It This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play! Objective • The students will be familiar with the characters in the play. • The students will make assumptions about characters based on their

names. Exercise: Reproduce the following page for the class from the Reproducibles in the Appendix, page 46. Approaching it as if we have never heard anything about these characters, discuss what each of the names makes us feel about them. From what language are the names derived? What consonants are featured in their names? What vowels? Ask the students to play with ways of saying the names. The Characters in As You Like It The Court: Duke Frederick, Usurped the throne from Duke Senior Celia, Daughter of Duke Frederick (called “Aliena” in Arden) Rosalind, Cousin to Celia, niece to Duke Frederick, daughter to Duke Senior (called “Ganymede” in Arden) Touchstone, Clown of the court Charles, the wrestler Le Beau, a courtier House of Sir Rowland de Boys: Oliver, Eldest son Jaques, Middle Son who appears in the final scene Orlando, Youngest son who loves Rosalind Adam, Elderly servant to Oliver who follows Orlando to Arden Forest of Arden: Duke Senior, Eldest brother of Duke Frederick Amiens and Jaques, Two Lords attending Duke Senior Corin and Silvius, Two shepherds Phebe, Shepherdess Silvius loves

12

Audrey, Country girl Touchstone loves William, a countryman Sir Oliver Martext, a priest

13

Section 3: The Play: Things to Look For • Overall Objective: The students will learn a variety of ways to analyze

Shakespearean texts and find specific things to look for in The Acting Company’s production of As You Like It.

Theme of the Play Objective: • The students will look for an underlying theme in As You Like It • The students will discuss themes in literature Exercise: As the students read and/or see As You Like It, ask them to look beyond the comedy and find some deeper meaning in the play. Director Richard Corley begins the production with actors onstage getting ready at their make-up mirrors. Does that focus attention on any specific themes? What are some of the themes that the students see in the play? Can a piece of art or literature have different meanings to different observers?

Primal Symbolism Objective: • The students will look for elements of the Pastoral tradition in literature in As

You Like It In this production, director Rick Corley had highlighted some of the primal and ritual elements of the text, including the ancient mythologies surrounding the cycle of Winter transforming into Spring. When Orlando arrives in the frozen Forest of Arden, the exiled courtiers sing,

Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly: Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:

Then, heigh-ho, the holly! This life is most jolly.

For most of us the sight of holly leaves and berries is linked with Christmas. Many Christmas traditions have their basis in old, pre-Christian folklore. Holly is no exception, and in some parts of Britain holly was formerly referred to merely as “Christmas.” Though holly probably was brought into the house for its shiny green leaves and berries, which reflect the light and add color to the dark days of Yule, it has another significance as well. Christian symbolism connected the prickly leaves with Jesus' crown of thorns and the berries with the drops of blood shed for humanity's salvation, as is related, for example, in the Christmas carol, 'The Holly and the Ivy'. Yet even here the reference to these two plants refers to a pre-Christian celebration, where a boy would be dressed in a suit of holly leaves and a girl similarly in ivy, to parade around the village, bringing Nature through the darkest part of the year to re-emerge for another year's fertility. In Celtic mythology the Holly King was said to rule over the half of the year from the summer to the winter solstice, at which time the Oak King defeated the Holly

14

King to rule for the time until the summer solstice again. These two aspects of the Nature god were later incorporated into Mummers' plays traditionally performed around Yuletide. The Holly King was depicted as a powerful giant of a man covered in holly leaves and branches, and wielding a holly bush as a club. He may well have been the same archetype on which the Green Knight of Arthurian legend was based.

From www.treesforlife.org.uk

Exercise: After seeing the performance, ask the students to identify the ritual elements shown in this production. How did these elements create the mood of the play? What sort of mood was that? How did costumes, props, music, movement, set design and lighting help intensify that mood?

The Pastoral Tradition This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE and AFTER seeing the play! Objective: • The students will look for elements of the Pastoral tradition in literature in As

You Like It As You Like It is both an example of and a parody of "Pastoral" literary tradition. In general, the term “Pastoral literature” includes all works that depict an idealized vision of country life usually with a love story. Shakespeare’s other experiment with the Pastoral tradition was in his late play, The Winter’s Tale, which is much more dark and serious. Cymbeline, another play from late in Shakespeare’s career, also depicts idealized rustic characters. All three plays contrast the pure life of country folk with the phoniness of the courtiers. The traditional elements of Pastoral literature include:

Shepherds, especially lovesick shepherds with scornful shepherdesses Forests where magical transformations occur Exiled rulers and merry men (outlaws?) living and hiding in the country Journeys often a young man who leaves the court (city) to find his fortune Adventures and Adversity Pure Love troubled by questions of fidelity Coincidences Disguises

Exercise: Introduce the list of elements of Pastoral literature to the students before seeing the play. In a discussion (or written assignment) have the students identify how each element is represented in As You Like It. Exercise: Are there elements of the Pastoral tradition in literature, films and television today? Ask the students to identify films, books and television in which the simple country folk outwit the city folk.

Writing in Role: The Wrestling Match This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play!

15

Objective: • The students will analyze a scene from As You Like It • The students will write in the voice of a fictional character Exercise: Ask the students to read Act 1, Scene2 of As You Like It beginning with the Duke’s entrance (around line 115). Based on that scene, each student should write as a sportswriter for the The Arden Express describing the wrestling match between Charles and Orlando. What were the highlights of the match? What are the reporter’s reaction to the event? The reporters should use quotes from the scene to describe what they have seen and heard.

Text Analysis: “What ‘tis to Love?” This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play! Objective: • The students will analyze a scene from As You Like It • The students will look at literary devices employed in a scene Exercise: One memorable scene in As You Like It comes in Act 5, scene 2, following the entrance of Phebe and Silvius (around line 60) when Silvius explains his views on the power of love. Have the students, working in groups of four, examine and interpret the following scene. What literary devices does Shakespeare use? Ask them to look for metaphors, repetition, onomatopoeia, antithesis, and other common devices. Is this scene meant to be funny or heartfelt? After seeing the play, discuss with the students how Director Richard Corley and the actors staged the speech.

Text Analysis: Touchstone and Corin This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play! Objective: • The students will examine a passage from As You Like It • The students will examine the humor in a scene Exercise: The following excerpt from Act 3, scene 2 of As You Like It. What are the elements that make this scene funny? Discuss it with the students. What are the required elements to make something funny? Are there different kinds of humor? How many different kinds of humor does Shakespeare employ in this scene? As students watch television and movies, ask them to look for humor and try to deconstruct why things are funny and what type of humor they are seeing. CORIN And how like you this shepherd's life, Master Touchstone? TOUCHSTONE

16

Truly, shepherd, in respect of itself, it is a good life, but in respect that it is a shepherd's life, it is naught. In respect that it is solitary, I like it very well; but in respect that it is private, it is a very vile life. Now, in respect it is in the fields, it pleaseth me well; but in respect it is not in the court, it is tedious. As is it a spare life, look you, it fits my humour well; but as there is no more plenty in it, it goes much against my stomach. Hast any philosophy in thee, shepherd? CORIN No more but that I know the more one sickens the worse at ease he is; and that he that wants money, means and content is without three good friends; that the property of rain is to wet and fire to burn; that good pasture makes fat sheep, and that a great cause of the night is lack of the sun; that he that hath learned no wit by nature nor art may complain of good breeding or comes of a very dull kindred. TOUCHSTONE Such a one is a natural philosopher. Wast ever in court, shepherd? CORIN No, truly. TOUCHSTONE Then thou art damned. CORIN Nay, I hope. TOUCHSTONE Truly, thou art damned like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side. CORIN For not being at court? Your reason. TOUCHSTONE Why, if thou never wast at court, thou never saw’st good manners; if thou never saw’st good manners, then thy manners must be wicked; and wickedness is sin, and sin is damnation. Thou art in a parlous state, shepherd. Exercise: Using Touchstone’s first speech in the scene above as a model, ask the students to write a humorous description of your school. Ask them to notice the ways he seems to imply that the things that he likes about the forest are the same things that he dislikes.

Soundscape: Dangers in the Forest This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play! Objective: • The students will examine a passage from As You Like It

17

• The students will create a soundscape illustrating the description Exercise: In Act 4, scene 3, one of the male characters relates a somewhat melodramatic story with an improbable coincidence at its end. Orlando came upon an unkempt man sleeping in the forest who was being menaced by a lion and a snake. Orlando recognized the man as his brother. Then the speaker reveals that he, himself was the sleeping man, Orlando’s brother Oliver. Oliver’s vivid description helps provide a context, a world for the play. Ask the students to read this description. Assign each section of the verse (indicated by letters a to a small group of students and ask them to create a “soundscape” of their line. Using sound only, they will convey the mood and meaning of the line. After a few minutes, read the passage aloud as they present the soundsacpe under it, adding each sound to the cacophony as you continue to read.

OLIVER

a. When last the young Orlando parted from you He left a promise to return again Within an hour, and pacing through the forest, Chewing the food of sweet and bitter fancy,

b. Lo, what befell! he threw his eye aside, And mark what object did present itself: Under an oak, whose boughs were moss'd with age And high top bald with dry antiquity,

c. A wretched ragged man, o'ergrown with hair, Lay sleeping on his back:

d. about his neck A green and gilded snake had wreathed itself, Who with her head nimble in threats approach'd The opening of his mouth; but suddenly,

e. Seeing Orlando, it unlink'd itself, And with indented glides did slip away Into a bush:

f. under which bush's shade A lioness, with udders all drawn dry, Lay couching, head on ground, with catlike watch, When that the sleeping man should stir

g. for 'tis The royal disposition of that beast To prey on nothing that doth seem as dead:

h. This seen, Orlando did approach the man And found it was his brother, his elder brother.

18

Verse and Prose This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play! Objective: • The students will discover the differences between verse and prose in As

You Like It. • The students will learn the literary terms Iambic Pentameter, Blank Verse,

and Rhyming Couplet. Facts: Some of what Shakespeare wrote is in verse. Some of the verse is in Iambic Pentameter. Pentameter is a line of poetry having five metrical feet (“Penta-” is the prefix meaning five; as in Pentagon). An Iamb is a metrical foot having two syllables, the first one short, and the second long. So, Iambic Pentameter feels like a heartbeat: Short, Long; Short, Long; Short, Long; Short, Long; Short, Long. Much of the verse in Shakespeare’s plays rhymes, however Blank Verse is a kind of poetry that does not rhyme, and is written in Iambic Pentameter. One example from Act 1, scene 3 of the play: ROSALIND Because that I am more than common tall, That I did suit me all points like a man? A gallant curtle-axe upon my thigh, A boar-spear in my hand; and--in my heart Lie there what hidden woman's fear there will.

Act 1, scene 3 Some of the verse is in Rhyming Couplets, pairs of lines of Iambic Pentameter that rhyme. The last two lines of the passage above are a rhyming couplet. The rhyming couplet was often used at the end of scenes to indicate to the audience, the other actors and the crew that the scene is over: ROSALIND Bring us to see this sight and you shall say I’ll prove a busy actor in their play.

Act 3, scene 5 Some of the characters in Shakespeare speak in Prose. Prose is common language that does not necessarily have an underlying rhythmical sound to it. Usually servants or the lower classes speak prose in Shakespeare’s plays.

19

Exercise: Ask the students to look at the script of As You Like It. Point out the groups of lines that are indented on the left margin and are rough on the right margin. These are the lines of verse. Some of them rhyme, and some do not. What sorts of characters speak in verse? What sorts of characters speak in prose? When do characters switch for verse to prose or prose to verse?

20

Section 4: The Playwright: William Shakespeare • Overall Objective: The students will know the facts of the life and career of

William Shakespeare and his continuing impact.

William Shakespeare’s Life Objective: • The students will learn about Shakespeare’s life • The students will write an essay about writing. • The students will assess what makes a good story and a good play. • The students will write a will based on Shakespeare’s will. Facts: William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, on or near April 23, 1564. Church records from Holy Trinity Church indicate that he was baptized there on April 26, 1564. William’s parents were John Shakespeare, a glover and leather merchant and Mary Arden. The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage to Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582. William was 18 at the time and Anne was 26 – and pregnant. Their first daughter, Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583. The couple later had twins, Hamnet and Judith, born February 2, 1585 and christened at Holy Trinity Church. Hamnet died in childhood at the age of 11, on August 11, 1596. For seven years, William Shakespeare pretty much disappeared from all records, turning up in London circa 1592. By 1594, he was not only acting and writing for the Lord Chamberlain's Men (called the King's Men after the ascension of James I in 1603), but was a managing partner in the operation as well. With Will Kempe, a master comedian, and Richard Burbage, a leading tragic actor of the day, the Lord Chamberlain's Men became a favorite London troupe, patronized by royalty and made popular by the theater-going public. When the plague forced theater closings in the mid-1590's, Shakespeare and his company made plans for The Globe Theater in the Bankside District, which was across the river from London proper. While Shakespeare could not be accounted wealthy, by London standards, his success allowed him to purchase New House in Stratford and retire there in comfort in 1611. When Shakespeare lived in London in the late 1500’s, England was a rich and powerful nation under the leadership of Queen Elizabeth I. Moreover, the Theater was thriving! Shakespeare joined a theater company called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (which was later known as the King's Men when King James I took the throne) and was successful as an actor, poet and a playwright. He wrote 37 plays. In writing his plays, he would often use a plot he already knew or read about, convert it, add to it and make it his own. Seven years after his death, his friends John Hemings and Henry Condell published a book containing 36 of Shakespeare’s plays, called the "First Folio." His work covered many subjects and styles, including comedies, tragedies, romances,

21

and historical plays. Shakespeare was a well-loved writer in his lifetime; and now, 400 years later, he is the most produced playwright in the world. William Shakespeare wrote his will in 1611, bequeathing his properties to his daughter Susanna (married in 1607 to Dr. John Hall). To his surviving daughter Judith, he left £300, and to his wife Anne left "my second best bed." This bed is one of the mysteries of Shakespearean scholarship. William Shakespeare allegedly died on his birthday, April 23, 1616. This is probably more of a romantic myth than reality, but Shakespeare was buried at Holy Trinity in Stratford on April 25, 1616. Exercise: Each of us knows many stories. In writing his plays, Shakespeare adapted plots he already knew or had read. Which stories are the students’ favorites? Ask them to choose one story that they have read and write a one-page paper telling why it would make a good play or film. In a discussion after the assignment, ask the class to assess what makes a good story and what makes a good performance piece. What elements from their list are in As You Like It?

Theater in the Time of William Shakespeare This exercise is designed to be used AFTER seeing the play! Objectives: • The students will compare modern theatrical convention with theater in the

time of Shakespeare Exercise: Verbally review the list below with the students. After The Acting Company’s production of As You Like It, ask the students to compare the conventions of the theater in Shakespeare’s day to the performance they have just seen. For example, as in Shakespeare’s time, The Acting Company’s production used little scenery and detailed costumes. Theater in the Time of William Shakespeare • The theater building was open air. • Performances started at 2:00 to make the most of daylight. • The stage was usually bare. • Elizabethan theaters held 1500 - 3000 people • There was a balcony onstage called the "inner above" to be used if needed,

but most of the action took place downstage. • When Shakespeare moved to London, he met with actor/manager Richard

Burbage and became a prompter, then became an actor and later Burbage's star writer.

• Richard and Cuthbart Burbage opened "The Globe Theatre" in 1599. • Shakespeare produced most of his plays in The Globe and became part

owner. • After the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, Shakespeare had to write plays

that would please the new King James I who had come from Scotland (one of these is Macbeth).

22

• The Globe burned down in 1613 during a production of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, but then was rebuilt in 1614.

• Characters usually tell us where they are and what time of day it is in their lines.

• Acting was not a well-respected profession at this time. • Women were not allowed to perform on stage, so boys would perform all

female parts, including Kate and Bianca in As You Like It. Boys were apprenticed to the acting companies between the ages of 6 and 14.

• Actors would have to learn many parts of a play, since up to three different plays would be performed in the same week by a company.

• Actors usually wore their own clothes unless they were portraying someone evil, royal, or female.

Research: 1600 – Life in London Objective: • The students will use technology to uncover information about London at the

time of the first performance of As You Like It. Exercise: Divide the class into three teams. Each team will explore one aspect of Life in London around 1600, the time As You Like It was written. One team will look only at economy, one at maps of the city and the last at politics. The teams should focus their research on the myriad Internet sources that deal with the 1600’s in England. The research will be presented in an oral presentation, which must include some visual aids. If there is access to technology in the classroom, this assignment may be used as classwork.

Humours Objective: • The students will know about the belief in Bodily Humours in Elizabethan

medicine • The students will create scenes involving the Humours. • The students will look for references to the Humours in As You Like It Facts: In the time of Shakespeare, people believed that, in the human body, the humours were natural bodily fluids that corresponded to the four elements (air, earth, fire, and water) and had various qualities: cold, dry, hot and moist. Element Humour Quality Nature Fire Choler (yellow bile) hot and dry Choleric (angry, temperamental) Air Blood hot and moist Sanguine (jolly, lusty) Water Phlegm cold and moist Phlegmatic (sluggish, slow) Earth Melancholy (black

bile) cold and dry Melancholic (sad, lovesick)

Many people believed that when the humours were all in balance in a person, he or she is completely healthy. If they got out of balance, illness resulted.

23

Doctors would bleed their patients to restore the balance, because blood was considered to have pre-eminence over the other humours. When a piece of drama involves people with extreme emotions, indicative of imbalances of the Humours, it was considered a “Humourous” piece. Often a modern comedy contains people with heightened emotions and we dub it “humorous.” Exercise: Divide the class into four groups and assign each one of the four Humours. Ask the students to create short scenes in which one or more of the characters are showing signs of an excess of their assigned bodily humour. As they prepare to see the play, they should listen for references to the Humours in As You Like It and in other literature.

Discussion: “If I Were A Woman…” Objective: • The students will know the Elizabethan stage practice of having males play

female roles. Facts: In the theater of Shakespeare’s time, the custom was for men and boys to play all the female roles. Acting was considered an unfit career for women. Actors, playwrights, and managers (like today’s producers) were thought to be a notch above thieves. Exercise: Discuss with your students this tradition. Many of them will have seen the film “Shakespeare in Love.” Remind them that the character Viola in the film wants to be an actor but is forbidden by the “Men Only” tradition. In order to be in the theater, she must disguise herself as a young man. Ask the students if they can name any female characters in Shakespeare that disguise themselves as men. Does knowing that Lady Macbeth, Juliet, Titania, Portia, Desdemona, and all the other female characters were played males change the students’ understanding of the characters? Does knowing that Rosalind and Celia were both played by boys change the way the students view the play’s romantic conflicts and gender-based humor? Imagine a boy actor playing a girl (Rosalind) who is disguised as a boy (“Ganymede”) and then pretends to be a girl for Orlando. Exercise: John “Pig” Pyke was a boy player in Shakespeare’s company. One of the outstanding artifacts from this period was a letter written by a woman he considered his honorary theatre mom. Ask the students, as homework, to write a letter from the boy actor who was given the role of Rosalind to his mother. Highlight what are the best and worst parts of the play to perform as a boy playing a girl.

24

We are all unwitting Shakespeare quoters, sometimes "without rhyme or reason.” If you are "in a pickle" because you have been "eaten out of house and home" and even your "salad days" have "vanished into thin air," you are quoting Shakespeare. You've been "hoodwinked" and "more sinned against than sinning." No wonder you're not "playing fast and loose" and haven't "slept a wink" and are probably "breathing your last." It's "cold comfort" that you are quoting Shakespeare. If you "point your finger" at me, "bid me good riddance" when you "send me packing" and call me a "laughing-stock," "the devil incarnate," a "sorry sight," "eyesore," and a "stone-hearted," "bloody-minded" "blinking idiot" and wish I were "dead as a door-nail", then I would say that you possess neither a "heart of gold" nor "the milk of human kindness," especially considering that we are "flesh and blood." Now that we have gone "full circle" and you are still waiting with "bated breath" since I have not been able to make you "budge an inch," it is "fair play" for me to quit this sermon since Shakespeare himself taught me that "brevity is the soul of wit." After all, it is a "foregone conclusion" that we all speak Shakespeare's language!

adapted from Take My Words:

A Wordaholic's Guide to the English Language

by Howard Richler

25

Section 5: The Theater Overall Objective: The students will have a stronger understanding of the art of the Theater.

Brainstorm: Creating a Theatrical Production This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play! Objective: • The students will identify careers in the theater. • The students will use The Acting Company website as a resource. • The students will know the collaborative nature of theater. Exercise: Ask the students to name some of the people who work to put a theatrical production like As You Like It on stage. Write their answers on the board. As the brainstorm continues, present information about the various professions. When you attend the performance, see if your students can talk to some of the professionals associated with The Acting Company. Producer or Producing Organization The producers raise the money needed to produce the play - the money allows the Creative Team to build its vision of the play. Producers oversee all aspects of the production and make sure that the play sticks to their artistic standards. They often put together the package of Script, Director, Designers, and Cast. The Acting Company is a not-for-profit organization, which means that money to produce the plays comes from fund-raising through grants and donations rather than from investors. [A “Not-for-Profit” organization uses money raised from donors, foundations, grants to do its work. A “Profit Making” or “For-Profit” organization gets money from investors. The investors receive a percentage of the profit made by the work.] The Playwright A "wright" is a type of artisan who makes things that people can use. A wheelwright makes wheels. A playwright makes plays. Plays are of use to other artists - Actors, Directors, Designers - who use the script to make their own artistic statement. William Shakespeare is the playwright of As You Like It. The Director After reading the playwright's script, the director decides on an overall vision for the production. The director meets with the Creative Team to assemble a unified look for the sets, costumes, lighting and other elements. The director oversees the actors in rehearsal, often with the help of Assistant Directors and Stage Managers. In the case of As You Like It, director Richard Corley wanted to bring the script to life in a new way and say something specific about the play and its themes.

26

The Actor The Cast is the group of men, women and children who perform the play. Many people call all the performers “actors” (instead of “actors” and “actresses”), since this is the professional term that applies to people of both genders. The members of the cast may be seasoned actors or new to the stage. They may have trained at different theater schools that teach acting in various ways. They draw on their own experiences and understanding of life to create believable characters. Actors usually audition for the parts they play. This means that they had to work on the part and read, sing or dance for the director and producers before they were given the role. All of the actors had to memorize their lines and attend many rehearsals, including some with costumes and props, before opening night. The Voice and Dialect Coach The Shakespearean language in As You Like It is very complex. Often a Voice Coach acts as an advisor to the actors and director on the play. She is an expert on the text, the meanings and nuances of the words, and their pronunciation. She can assist the actors with the verse. She is an expert in the period language of the script and helps the actors approach the text from a unified angle. The Costume Designer Costumes in a play must help the actors as they create the characters. The costumes should not restrict the movement of the performers. The costume designer and her staff work within the vision of the director for each character. They choose colors and styles to help the audience better understand the characters. They do historical research to make the time period of the play come to life. In this production of As You Like It, the costumes are of eclectic period styles. The Set Designer, the Sound Designer and Lighting Designer The play needs an environment in which to take place. The set can be a literal world, with many objects (“props”) and lots of furniture. It can be a suggestion of reality with minimal actual components. Music and sound effects can make the theatrical experience more real (or more fantastical). The lights add to the environment of the play and enhance the mood that the other designers, the actors, the playwright, the composer and the director have created. For The Acting Company productions, the set must be easy to assemble and disassemble and must be portable. The sound and lighting design must be able to be recreated in each venue. The Staff and The Crew The theater’s staff - house manager, ushers, box office people, and others - assist the audience in many ways and support each performance. Backstage the Stage Managers and the running crew run the lighting equipment, move the scenery and make sure the technical aspects of the performance are perfect. In the office, Marketing people work to make sure people know about the

27

performances and the Development staff makes sure the producers have money to put on the play. Exercise: Ask the students to see how many of the members of the cast, crew and staff they can find at The Acting Company website: www.theactingcompany.org. Feel free to have them correspond with the Company members through e-mail links.

Costumes from the Renaissance This exercise is designed to be used AFTER seeing the play! Objective: • The students will evaluate the choices of clothing styles in The Acting

Company’s production of As You Like It Exercise: After the performance, discuss the costumes in the show with the students. What historical period did they evoke? Did the styles enhance As You Like It? What did the students think of the colors of the costumes and what the colors told us about the difference between the court and the forest? Which character had the most interesting costume? Who had the best shoes? What about the non-traditional clothing and props (like Celia’s sunglasses)? Did each group (courtiers, servants, forest dwellers, shepherds, young people, etc.) have a unique clothing style? How did costumes help the audience differentiate between two characters played by the same actor, like Charles the Wrestler? Could the play have been performed in simple modern dress? Would that have changed the play? How might the costumes help actors create their characters? Did the costumes enhance the performance or distract the audience?

Casting This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play! Objective: • The students will create a cast list for a movie of As You Like It Exercise: Ask the students, “If you were casting a movie of As You Like It, what stars would you get to be in it?” Ask each to work independently and cast Rosalind, Orlando and Touchstone. Are there any actual sets of brothers that might be appropriate to play Orlando and Oliver (and Jaques de Boys)?

Types of Theater Buildings This exercise is designed to be used AFTER seeing the play! Objective: • The students will be able to identify different types of theatres. • The students will weigh the benefits of each type of performance space. • The students will use The Acting Company website as a resource.

28

• The students will write a report about a theater. Discussion: In which types of theaters have the students seen plays, concerts or other live performances? In what type of theater was The Acting Company’s production of As You Like It performed? What might be the benefits of each type of performance space? What might be the drawbacks of each? Facts: Three different types of performance space are most common in the theatre: • The Proscenium Stage is the most common. The play is performed within

a frame. The frame is called a proscenium arch; the audience looks through this frame as if the performance was a picture.

• The Thrust Stage extends into the audience. Spectators sit on three sides. • Theater-in-the-Round has the audience sitting all around the stage. The

action takes place on a platform in the center of the room. Another name for a Theater-in-the-Round is an Arena Stage because it is similar to a sports arena.

Exercise: At The Acting Company website, www.theactingcompany.org, have the students find the “Itinerary” page. Many of the theaters that the Company is playing this year are linked to this page. The students can learn about different types of theaters in different parts of the country from these links. Students can write a report about one of the theaters where The Acting Company is performing this year. Their report might include a map of the location, distance from the last theater and to the next theater and statistics about the theater (size, seating capacity, ticket prices).

Exposition This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play! Objectives: • The students will do a close reading of two scenes from As You Like It • The students will write some expository dialogue. One of the trickiest jobs of a writer of dramatic literature is telling the audience, at the start of the play (or screenplay), what has happened before the story began. This information is called “exposition.” A novel can use a narrator to deliver exposition. The tricky part is not making the audience feel as if they are being stuffed with lots of information. Exercise: It is important in As You Like It for the audience to understand the plight of Rosalind, her father the Duke, Orlando and the other characters as the play begins. Ask the students to read the selections from Act One, scene I of As You Like It below and analyze Shakespeare’s strategies for conveying the exposition to the audience. Does it seem forced or is it smoothly revealed? Selection 1: Enter ORLANDO and ADAM

29

ORLANDO As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion bequeathed me by will but poor a thousand crowns, and, as thou sayest, charged my brother, on his blessing, to breed me well: and there begins my sadness. My brother Jaques he keeps at school, and report speaks goldenly of his profit: for my part, he keeps me rustically at home, or, to speak more properly, stays me here at home unkept; for call you that keeping for a gentleman of my birth, that differs not from the stalling of an ox? His horses are bred better; for, besides that they are fair with their feeding, they are taught their manage, and to that end riders dearly hired: but I, his brother, gain nothing under him but growth; for the which his animals on his dunghills are as much bound to him as I. Besides this nothing that he so plentifully gives me, the something that nature gave me his countenance seems to take from me: he lets me feed with his hands, bars me the place of a brother, and, as much as in him lies, mines my gentility with my education. This is it, Adam, that grieves me; and the spirit of my father, which I think is within me, begins to mutiny against this servitude: I will no longer endure it, though yet I know no wise remedy how to avoid it. Selection 2: Enter CHARLES, the Wrestler CHARLES Good morrow to your worship. OLIVER Good Monsieur Charles, what's the new news at the new court? CHARLES There's no news at the court, sir, but the old news: that is, the old duke is banished by his younger brother the new duke; and three or four loving lords have put themselves into voluntary exile with him, whose lands and revenues enrich the new duke; therefore he gives them good leave to wander. OLIVER Can you tell if Rosalind, the duke's daughter, be banished with her father? CHARLES O, no; for the duke's daughter, her cousin, so loves her, being ever from their cradles bred together, that she would have followed her exile, or have died to stay behind her. She is at the court, and no less beloved of her uncle than his own daughter; and never two ladies loved as they do. OLIVER Where will the old duke live?

30

CHARLES They say he is already in the forest of Arden, and a many merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England: they say many young gentlemen flock to him every day, and fleet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world.

Both selections from As You Like It, Act One, scene 1 Exercise: Ask the students to write a short scene in which information is conveyed to the audience through the dialogue.

Still Images: All The World’s A Stage This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play! Objectives: • The students will do a close reading of a speech from As You Like It • The students will create tableaux based on images in the speech • The students will create a movement piece based on the speech Exercise: Jaques’ “All the world's a stage” speech is the most famous passage in As You Like It. Provide each student with the following passage from the play. Ask 8 students to each take one of the sections of the speech and divide the rest of the class among the sections. Introduce the idea of “tableau” to the class. Tableaux are living sculptures or frozen images made up of living actors’ bodies. Tell them that the poses they adopt in their tableau should be both easy to maintain for a few minutes (avoid one foot off the floor, for example) and easy to recreate. Begin with each reader reciting his part in order so the class can get a sense of the whole speech. Break the class into separate groups by section. The readers and the others should prepare a series of still images to illustrate the passage. Allow them about 10 minutes for this process. Give a warning to the group when they have a minute left and ask the groups to rehearse what they are going to present to the class. Reconvene the class as a whole and place them in a circle with a playing space in the center. Ask the readers to read the passages in order while the other members of each group present their tableaux. Follow the presentation with a discussion. You may wish to show the whole piece a second time before discussing. If the students are willing and the piece is worthy, you may wish to work their piece into a performance for other classes or to be shown as part of a school assembly.

JAQUES All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players:

31

They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.

At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school.

And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow.

Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth.

And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part.

The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound.

Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7

Why Theater? This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play with a follow-up section AFTER the performance. Objective: • The students will explore the importance of theater. Exercise: Give each student a copy of the following quote from George Cram Cook (1873 –1924), founder of New York’s Provincetown Playhouse (artistic

32

home of Eugene O’Neill). Ask each student to identify the two reasons Cook gives for the importance of theater, especially in time of crisis. Are they important and relevant today? Are there other reasons? Ask the students to write a paragraph or two, based on the passage, in which they explore the importance of Theater (or the Arts in general) in post-September 11 America. Have volunteers share them with the class. After seeing the performance, ask the students which reason (as a means of escape or as a gateway for imagination) does As You Like It provide? Or does it do something else? Can theater provide different things for different people? Can it provide many things for an individual? Still trembling from the World Trade Center disaster, we found the following 1918 quote to be relevant, moving and insightful 83 years later. “Seven of the Provincetown Players are in the army or working for it in France and more are going. Not lightheartedly now, when civilization itself is threatened with destruction, we who remain have determined to go on next season with the work of our little theatre. It is often said that theatrical entertainment in general is socially justified in this dark time as a means of relaxing the strain of reality, and thus helping to keep us sane. This may be true, but if more were not true - if we felt no deeper value in dramatic art than entertainment, we would hardly have the heart for it now. One faculty, we know, is going to be of vast importance to the half-destroyed world - indispensable for its rebuilding - the faculty of creative imagination. That spark of it, which has given this group of ours such life and meaning as we have, is not so insignificant that we should now let it die. The social justification, which we feel to be valid now for makers and players of plays, is that they shall help keep alive in the world the light of imagination. Without it, the wreck of the world that was cannot be cleared away and the new world shaped."

George Cram Cook, founder of New York’s Provincetown Playhouse, 1918

33

Theater Etiquette This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play! Objective: • The students will know standard rules of behavior in the theater. To make the theater-going experience more enjoyable for everyone, a code of behavior has been established. When attending theatrical performances, remember these simple rules of conduct. v Be on time for the performance. v Eat and drink only in the theatre lobby. v Turn off all cellular phones and pagers. v Talk before and after the performance or during the intermissions

only. Remember that the people near you and on stage can hear you.

v Appropriate responses to the performances, such as laughing

and applauding, are appreciated. v Act with maturity during romantic, violent and other challenging

scenes. v Keep your feet off chairs around you. v Read your program before or after, not during, the play. v Personal hygiene (e.g., combing hair, applying make-up, etc.)

should be attended to in the restrooms. v Once you are seated and the play has begun, stay in your seat. If

you see empty seats ahead of you, ask the usher during the intermission if you can move to them.

v Always stay until after the curtain call. After the final curtain,

relax and take your time leaving. v Open your eyes, ears and mind to the entire theatrical

experience!

35

Prepare for Q & A Session This exercise is designed to be used BEFORE seeing the play! Objective: • The students will create questions for the post-performance Q & A session

Exercise: To make the post-performance Question and Answer session more beneficial to everyone, the students might create a few questions before the performance. Ask the students to think what questions they might want to ask the actors in the play? Here are some starter questions: Are there questions about the theater as an art form? Does it require training? Where did the actors train? Can a person make a living in the theater? What careers are there in the theater? Are any of the students aspiring actors? Are they seeking advice? Are there questions about traveling the country? Have the actors seen a lot of the United States? What is the bus like? How many hours do they spend on the bus? Does everybody get along? What about life in New York City? How long have the actors lived there? And where are they from originally? (Have any of the students ever been in NYC?) How has New York City survived the September 11th Tragedy? What is the best part of living in New York? What is the worst? What about As You Like It, the play? How has it been received in places across the country? What is the best part about working on this play? What have been its drawbacks? Is it fun working on Shakespeare? What do the actors think the themes of the play are?

NOTE: If there are questions that your students have after the company departs, feel free to contact the Education Department of The Acting Company, and we will get an answer for you!

36

Section 6: What to Do After You See This Play Please encourage your students to reflect on the play in some of the following ways. We would love to have copies of some of the writings or artwork your students create: The Acting Company, Box 898, New York, NY 10108 or fax 212-258-3299. We have also included in the appendix short pre- and post-performance questionnaires and would be interested in gathering data about the play.

Write • Write a play or scene in response to the play. • Improvise a scene with a partner and then write it down. • Write a soliloquy for one of the characters in As You Like It. • Write a scene for two of the characters in the play that you think we should

have seen but that was not in Shakespeare’s play. For example, a scene between Touchstone and melancholy Jaques.

• Write an epilogue. For example, what happens to Rosalind and Orlando after the story ends? How about Touchstone and Audrey? Silvius and Phebe?

• Write a review of our production. • Write an analysis of the poster for this production. • Write a theatrical adaptation of another piece of literature, perhaps a short

story.

Draw • Draw the world of the Duke’s Court and the world of Arden. • Draw images from the production. • Draw a poster for our production. • Create a collage of images from magazines in response to the play.

Read and Research more

Check out some of the following Web Addresses: Complete Text of the Play: www.theplays.org/asyoulikeit/ SparkNotes on the Play: www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/asyoulikeit/ More Lesson Plans: http://www.penguinputnam.com/static/packages/us/academic/resources/guides/shakasyou/frame.htm Shakespeare Online Resource Centers: www.bardweb.net

www.shakespeare-online.com/ www.navdeeps.com/shakespeare http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/

37

www.ulen.com/shakespeare/ National Council of Teachers of English: http://www.ncte.org/

38

We Want to Hear from YOU and your STUDENTS! By Mail The Acting Company PO Box 898 New York NY 10108 Telephone: 212-258-3111 Fax: 212-258-3299

By E-Mail

Paul Fontana, Curriculum Specialist Pfontana@ TheActingCompany.org

Stephen Alemán, Director of Education Saleman@ TheActingCompany.org Education@TheActingCompany.org

On the Internet

www.TheActingCompany.org Internships

Please submit a letter of interest and your resume along with two references to the Intern Coordinator at the address above. You can call or check the website for more information.

Questionnaires and FREE Posters!

You will find a Pre-Performance and a Post-Performance Questionnaires on pages 49 and 50 of this guide. Please have your students fill out the Pre-Performance Survey before you begin working on exercises from this guide. Ask them to fill out the Post-Performance Survey after seeing As You Like It. Send them to us at the above address and we will send you a POSTER from one of The Acting Company’s productions as a “Thank You.”

39

Section 7: The Acting Company The Acting Company, America’s only nationally-touring classical repertory theater, was founded in 1972 by current Producing Artistic Director Margot Harley and the late John Houseman with a unique mission:

+ By touring smaller cities, towns and rural communities of America, the Company reaches thousands of people who have few opportunities to experience live professional theater. + By presenting superior productions of classic and contemporary plays, the Company builds a discerning national audience for theater, helping preserve and extend our cultural heritage. + By providing continuing opportunities for gifted and highly-trained young actors to practice their craft in a rich repertoire for diverse audiences, the Company nurtures the growth and development of generations of theater artists. + By commissioning and premiering important new works by America’s foremost playwrights, the Company fosters a theater tradition in which story-telling, language and the presence of the actor are primary. + By making the language of the theater accessible in performance, special classes and other educational outreach activities, the Company inspires students of all ages and helps them excel in every field of study.

The Acting Company has been fulfilling this singular mission since it was formed out of the first graduating class of The Juilliard School's Drama Division in 1972. Since then, it has traveled over 500,000 miles through 48 states and nine other countries, performing a repertoire of over 77 plays for more than 2 million people.

Trace Our Tour If the students want to follow the tour as it progresses across the United States, they can read the Tour Journal (on our website www.theactingcompany.org) and see pictures of the places we visit. You can check in with us every day, check the itinerary and see where we are on the map.

40

Section 8: Creative Team, Staff, and Cast List

THE ACTING COMPANY

In AS YOU LIKE IT

Written by William Shakespeare Directed by Richard Corley

Sets and Costumes by Marina Draghici

Lighting by Dennis Parichy Original Music by Kim D. Sherman

Voice/Speech/Text Consultant Elizabeth Smith Fight Direction Felix Ivanov

Production Manager Bonnie J Baggesen Production Stage Manager Jennifer Cicelsky George

Assistant Stage Manager Janice Brandine Staff Repertory Director Giovanna Sardelli

CAST (in alphabetical order)

Rosalind – Jessica Bates

Audrey – Siobhan Juanita Brown Silvius / Le Beau – Paul Cosentino

Amiens / Hymen – Kevin Kraft Touchstone – Michael Lluberes Orlando – Fletcher McTaggart

Charles / William / Martext – Joe Osheroff Jacques – Glenn Peters Phebe – Jaime St. Peter Celia –Christen Simon

Duke Frederick / Duke Senior – Lamont Stephens Adam / Jacques de Boys – Peter Zazzali

Oliver / Corin – Evan Zes

41

Section 9: Bibliography Barton, Robert, Style for Actors. Mayfield Publishing Company: Mountain View,

CA, 1993. Davis, James E. and Ronald E. Salomone (Eds.). Teaching Shakespeare

Today: Practical Approaches and Productive Strategies. National Council of Teachers of English: Illinois, 1993.

Engen, Barbara and Joy Campbell. Elementary, My Dear Shakespeare. Market Masters: Utah, 1995. Foster, Cass and Lynn G. Johnson. Shakespeare: To teach or not to teach. Five

Star Publications: Arizona, 1994. Gibson, Rex. Teaching Shakespeare. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge,

UK, 1998. Gurr, Andrew. William Shakespeare: The Extraordinary Life of the Most

Successful Writer of All Time. Harper Perrennial: New York, 1995. O’Brien, Peggy. Shakespeare Set Free. Washington Square Press: New York,

1995 Pincess, Gerald M. and Roger Lockyer (Eds). Shakespeare's World: Background Readings in the English Renaissance. A Frederick Ungar Book: New

York, 1990. Richler, Howard. Take My Words: A Wordaholic's Guide to the English

Language. Ronsdale Press: Vancouver, 1996.

Shakespeare, William, As You Like It. (Cambridge School Shakespeare Edition) Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 2000.

42

Appendix: Reproducibles Exercise: The Plot Synopsis

As the play begins, Orlando, a young nobleman whose father, Rowland de Boys, has recently died, complains to Adam, an old servant, about his brother's failure to provide him with a suitable education. When Oliver, his brother, enters they quarrel and fight. Oliver plots to destroy Orlando by getting Orlando to fight the Duke's champion wrestler, Charles.

At the Duke's palace, Rosalind, the daughter of the banished Duke Senior, is consoled by her cousin Celia. Celia’s father, Duke Frederick, is the one responsible for exiling his brother, Duke Senior. The girls and Touchstone, the Court Fool, attend the wrestling match. Charles, the Duke's wrestler, has cracked the ribs of three brothers and now faces another young challenger, Orlando. When the girls attempt unsuccessfully to convince Orlando not to fight, they are impressed with his looks and his words and wish him success. After his surprising victory, Celia and Rosalind congratulate Orlando, and Rosalind gives him a chain to wear as a token of her esteem. Orlando is so taken with Rosalind that he cannot speak.

Duke Frederick is impressed with Orlando until he learns that he is the youngest son of Rowland de Boys, his enemy and friend of Rosalind's father, Duke Senior. As the girls joke about Rosalind’s sudden affection for Orlando, Duke Frederick orders Rosalind to leave the court. She is banished and must leave or will face death. Celia proposes that they should run away from court together (because Celia loves Rosalind too much to let her be exiled alone) and go to find Rosalind's father in the Forest of Arden. Fearful of the dangers they would face traveling as unaccompanied young women, Rosalind suggests that she should disguise herself as a young man. They choose new names to reflect their changed natures. Rosalind will now be “Ganymede,” the name of the Greek god Jupiter’s page and Celia will be “Aliena,” which means "the outsider." Rosalind decides to take along Touchstone, the Jester, as a traveling companion.

In Act Two, in the Forest of Arden, the exiled Duke Senior and his courtiers celebrate the simplicity of their new way of life, free of the customs and intrigues of the court. Meanwhile, the members of Duke Frederick’s court realize that Celia and Rosalind are missing and begin a search. Orlando learns from Adam that Oliver is plotting against Orlando and they escape to the Forest of Arden. Rosalind disguised as “Ganymede,” Celia as “Aliena” and Touchstone are wandering in the Forest of Arden, exhausted and weak. They learn from Corin, a shepherd, that there is a nearby cottage and some land for sale. The travelers decide to purchase the place so they can stay in this place for a while. In another part of the forest, Amiens sings a sad song while Jaques, a melancholy member of Duke Senior’s exiled band, begs him to sing again even though it makes him sad. Orlando violently comes upon the Duke’s party with his sword drawn, demanding food, but Duke Senior invites him to eat what he needs. Orlando is ashamed that he acted so rudely. He takes some food to feed Adam while Duke Senior and melancholy Jaques comment on the misfortunes of life.

43

Act Three begins back at the palace, where Duke Frederick banishes Oliver and seizes his fortune and lands until he delivers up his brother, Orlando. Meanwhile, in the Forest, Orlando hangs verses written in praise of Rosalind on the trees while Corin and Touchstone try to outdo each other to show their cleverness. The disguised Rosalind and Celia read some of the verses written by Orlando. Rosalind learns that Orlando is also in the Forest of Arden. Rosalind is upset. She wants to see Orlando but how can she let him see her when she is dressed as a man? Orlando and Jaques pass by the disguised girls. Rosalind uses her manly disguise to speak with Orlando and tease him. She indicates that Orlando does not look like a man in the throes of love. She asserts that she can cure him of his obsessive love for Rosalind by pretending to be Rosalind and treating him badly. However, at the time appointed for the first phase of the cure “Ganymede” fears she has been stood up by Orlando. Shepherd Silvius courts shepherdess Phebe and begs her not to reject him. She tells him that because she has never experienced what Silvius is going through, she has no pity for him. When Rosalind reprimands Phebe for her hardheartedness, Phebe falls in love with “Ganymede” not knowing that “he” is a female in disguise. Now Phebe, like Silvius, knows the hopelessness of unrequited love. A subplot emerges in Act Three about Touchstone’s wooing of Audrey, a simple country girl.

As Act Four begins, Rosalind meets Jaques in the forest, and they talk about why he is so melancholy. When Orlando arrives late, “Ganymede” chides him but then asks Orlando to woo her as if she were truly his Rosalind. He agrees so he can pretend to talk to his love. Orlando says he would die if Rosalind did not love him, while Rosalind says there are no cases where anyone has died for love. Rosalind’s troubles multiply when Silvius brings a love note to “Ganymede” from his love, Phebe. Rosalind orders Silvius to tell Phebe that “Ganymede” will never love her unless Phebe loves Silvius. Orlando’s brother Oliver (who had been so mean to him at the play’s opening) brings a bloody handkerchief and tells how Orlando saved him from a snake and then a lion. Orlando recognized his brother Oliver, who had treated him so shamefully, but he couldn't leave him to be eaten alive. He fought the lion and saved Oliver. The brothers reconciled and went to the Duke where Orlando fainted from a flesh wound he had received in the fight. He sent Oliver to Celia and Rosalind to make his excuses for not keeping the meeting with them. On hearing this news, Rosalind faints. Act Five begins with an encounter between Touchstone, Audrey and William, Audrey's old beau. After a brief conversation with Touchstone, William is eager to get away. Touchstone promises to marry Audrey tomorrow. Oliver and Celia have fallen in love and are to be married the next day. Rosalind describes to Orlando the quick progression of stages that led them to marriage. While happy for his brother, Orlando is also heartsick that he cannot enjoy his own love, Rosalind. She, claiming to have magical powers, promises that Orlando, too, will wed his love tomorrow. Silvius describes the sweet misery of being in love and Phebe, Orlando and Rosalind agree with him. “Ganymede” promises all their needs will be fulfilled the next day and bids them to all meet together.

44

In the climactic final scene of the play, everyone meets together at Duke Senior’s camp in the Forest of Arden and all promise “Ganymede” to fulfill their oaths to marry. While “Ganymede” goes out, Touchstone enters with Audrey to join the other couples. Celia and Rosalind, no longer disguised, enter with Hymen, the Roman god of marriage, all the confusions are explained, and the four couples agree to marry. During the wedding, Orlando’s brother Jaques de Boys, the middle son of Sir Rowland, arrives to announce that Duke Frederick has had a religious conversion and returned the throne to Duke Senior. This welcome news now provides a backdrop for the merriment of the wedding festivities.

45

Exercise: Shakespearean Insults Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Adjectives Adjectives Nouns artless base-court apple-john bawdy bat-fowling baggage beslubbering beef-witted barnacle bootless beetle-headed bladder churlish boil-brained boar-pig cockered clapper-clawed bugbear clouted clay-brained bum-bailey craven common-kissing canker-blossom currish crook-pated clack-dish dankish dismal-dreaming clotpole dissembling dizzy-eyed coxcomb droning doghearted codpiece errant dread-bolted death-token fawning earth-vexing dewberry fobbing elf-skinned flap-dragon froward fat-kidneyed flax-wench frothy fen-sucked flirt-gill gleeking flap-mouthed foot-licker goatish fly-bitten fustilarian gorbellied folly-fallen giglet impertinent fool-born gudgeon infectious full-gorged haggard jarring guts-griping harpy loggerheaded half-faced hedge-pig lumpish hasty-witted horn-beast mammering hedge-born hugger-mugger mangled hell-hated joithead mewling idle-headed lewdster paunchy ill-breeding lout pribbling ill-nurtured maggot-pie puking knotty-pated malt-worm puny milk-livered mammet qualling motley-minded measle rank onion-eyed minnow reeky plume-plucked miscreant roguish pottle-deep moldwarp ruttish pox-marked mumble-news saucy reeling-ripe nut-hook spleeny rough-hewn pigeon-egg spongy rude-growing pignut surly rump-fed puttock tottering shard-borne pumpion unmuzzled sheep-biting ratsbane vain spur-galled scut venomed swag-bellied skainsmate villainous tardy-gaited strumpet warped tickle-brained varlet wayward toad-spotted vassal weedy unchin-snouted whey-face yeasty weather-bitten wagtail

46

Another Insult List

You puppet You cold porridge

You living dead man You untutored churl

You painted Maypole You cream-faced loon You worshiper of idiots You dwarf, you minimus

You bloody, bawdy villain You injurious, tedious wasp You base, fawning spaniel You infectious pestilence You botcher’s apprentice You ugly, venomous toad You base, ignoble wretch

You old, withered crab tree You lunatic, lean-witted fool

You filching, pilfering snatcher You tiresome, wrangling pedant You impudent, tattered prodigal

You whoreson, clap-eared knave You dull and muddy mettled rascal You gross lout, you mindless slave

You base, vile thing, you petty scrap You dull, unfeeling barren ignorance

You rank weed, ready to be rooted out You irksome, brawling, scolding pestilence

You brawling, blasphemous, uncharitable dog You ignorant, long-tongued, babbling gossip

You smiling, smooth, detested pestilence You mangled work of nature, you scurvy knave

You caterpillar of the commonwealth, you politician You juggler, you canker-blossom, you thief of love

You decrepit wrangling miser, you base ignoble wretch You remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain

Adapted from a list in Robert Barton, Style for Actors

47

Exercise: Soundscape: Dangers in the Forest

OLIVER a. When last the young Orlando parted from you

He left a promise to return again Within an hour, and pacing through the forest, Chewing the food of sweet and bitter fancy,

b. Lo, what befell! he threw his eye aside, And mark what object did present itself: Under an oak, whose boughs were moss'd with age And high top bald with dry antiquity,

c. A wretched ragged man, o'ergrown with hair, Lay sleeping on his back:

d. about his neck A green and gilded snake had wreathed itself, Who with her head nimble in threats approach'd The opening of his mouth; but suddenly,

e. Seeing Orlando, it unlink'd itself, And with indented glides did slip away Into a bush:

f. under which bush's shade A lioness, with udders all drawn dry, Lay couching, head on ground, with catlike watch, When that the sleeping man should stir

g. for 'tis The royal disposition of that beast To prey on nothing that doth seem as dead:

h. This seen, Orlando did approach the man And found it was his brother, his elder brother.

48

Exercise: Exposition Selection 1: Enter ORLANDO and ADAM ORLANDO As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion bequeathed me by will but poor a thousand crowns, and, as thou sayest, charged my brother, on his blessing, to breed me well: and there begins my sadness. My brother Jaques he keeps at school, and report speaks goldenly of his profit: for my part, he keeps me rustically at home, or, to speak more properly, stays me here at home unkept; for call you that keeping for a gentleman of my birth, that differs not from the stalling of an ox? His horses are bred better; for, besides that they are fair with their feeding, they are taught their manage, and to that end riders dearly hired: but I, his brother, gain nothing under him but growth; for the which his animals on his dunghills are as much bound to him as I. Besides this nothing that he so plentifully gives me, the something that nature gave me his countenance seems to take from me: he lets me feed with his hands, bars me the place of a brother, and, as much as in him lies, mines my gentility with my education. This is it, Adam, that grieves me; and the spirit of my father, which I think is within me, begins to mutiny against this servitude: I will no longer endure it, though yet I know no wise remedy how to avoid it. Selection 2: Enter CHARLES, the Wrestler CHARLES Good morrow to your worship. OLIVER Good Monsieur Charles, what's the new news at the new court? CHARLES There's no news at the court, sir, but the old news: that is, the old duke is banished by his younger brother the new duke; and three or four loving lords have put themselves into voluntary exile with him, whose lands and revenues enrich the new duke; therefore he gives them good leave to wander. OLIVER Can you tell if Rosalind, the duke's daughter, be banished with her father? CHARLES O, no; for the duke's daughter, her cousin, so loves her, being ever from their cradles bred together, that she would have followed her exile, or have died to stay behind her. She is at the court, and no less beloved of her uncle than his own daughter; and never two ladies loved as they do. OLIVER Where will the old duke live? CHARLES They say he is already in the forest of Arden, and a many merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England: they say many young gentlemen flock to him every day, and fleet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world.

Both selections from As You Like It, Act One, scene 1

49

Text Analysis: Touchstone and Corin CORIN And how like you this shepherd's life, Master Touchstone? TOUCHSTONE Truly, shepherd, in respect of itself, it is a good life, but in respect that it is a shepherd's life, it is naught. In respect that it is solitary, I like it very well; but in respect that it is private, it is a very vile life. Now, in respect it is in the fields, it pleaseth me well; but in respect it is not in the court, it is tedious. As is it a spare life, look you, it fits my humour well; but as there is no more plenty in it, it goes much against my stomach. Hast any philosophy in thee, shepherd? CORIN No more but that I know the more one sickens the worse at ease he is; and that he that wants money, means and content is without three good friends; that the property of rain is to wet and fire to burn; that good pasture makes fat sheep, and that a great cause of the night is lack of the sun; that he that hath learned no wit by nature nor art may complain of good breeding or comes of a very dull kindred. TOUCHSTONE Such a one is a natural philosopher. Wast ever in court, shepherd? CORIN No, truly. TOUCHSTONE Then thou art damned. CORIN Nay, I hope. TOUCHSTONE Truly, thou art damned like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side. CORIN For not being at court? Your reason. TOUCHSTONE Why, if thou never wast at court, thou never saw’st good manners; if thou never saw’st good manners, then thy manners must be wicked; and wickedness is sin, and sin is damnation. Thou art in a parlous state, shepherd.

50

Still Images: All The World’s A Stage

All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.

At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school.

And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow.

Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth.

And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part.

The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound.

Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Jaques, As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7

51

The Characters in As You Like It The Court: Duke Frederick, Usurped the throne from Duke Senior Celia, Daughter of Duke Frederick (called “Aliena” in Arden) Rosalind, Cousin to Celia, niece to Duke Frederick, daughter to Duke Senior (called “Ganymede” in Arden) Touchstone, Clown of the court Charles, the wrestler Le Beau, a courtier House of Sir Rowland de Boys: Oliver, Eldest son Jaques, Middle Son who appears in the final scene Orlando, Youngest son who loves Rosalind Adam, Elderly servant to Oliver who follows Orlando to Arden Forest of Arden: Duke Senior, Eldest brother of Duke Frederick Amiens and Jaques, Two Lords attending Duke Senior Corin and Silvius, Two shepherds Phebe, Shepherdess Silvius loves Audrey, Country girl Touchstone loves William, a countryman Sir Oliver Martext, a priest

52

Exercise: Why Theater?

Still trembling from the World Trade Center disaster, we found the following 1918 quote to be relevant, moving and insightful 83 years later. “Seven of the Provincetown Players are in the army or working for it in France and more are going. Not lightheartedly now, when civilization itself is threatened with destruction, we who remain have determined to go on next season with the work of our little theatre. It is often said that theatrical entertainment in general is socially justified in this dark time as a means of relaxing the strain of reality, and thus helping to keep us sane. This may be true, but if more were not true - if we felt no deeper value in dramatic art than entertainment, we would hardly have the heart for it now. One faculty, we know, is going to be of vast importance to the half-destroyed world - indispensable for its rebuilding - the faculty of creative imagination. That spark of it, which has given this group of ours such life and meaning as we have, is not so insignificant that we should now let it die. The social justification, which we feel to be valid now for makers and players of plays, is that they shall help keep alive in the world the light of imagination. Without it, the wreck of the world that was cannot be cleared away and the new world shaped."

George Cram Cook, founder of New York’s Provincetown Playhouse, 1918

53

Exercise: Theatre Etiquette v Be on time for the performance. v Eat and drink only in the theatre lobby. v Turn off all cellular phones and pagers. v Talk before and after the performance or during the intermissions

only. Remember that the people near you and on stage can hear you.

v Appropriate responses to the performances, such as laughing

and applauding, are appreciated. v Act with maturity during romantic, violent and other challenging

scenes. v Keep your feet off chairs around you. v Read your program before or after, not during, the play. v Personal hygiene (e.g., combing hair, applying make-up, etc.)

should be attended to in the restrooms. v Once you are seated and the play has begun, stay in your seat. If

you see empty seats ahead of you, ask the usher during the intermission if you can move to them.

v Always stay until after the curtain call. After the final curtain,

relax and take your time leaving. v Open your eyes, ears and mind to the entire theatrical

experience!

54

Pre-Performance Questionnaire Please rate the following statements on a scale from 1 to 7. “1” represents something with which you strongly disagree; “7” represents something with which you strongly agree. Circle the number that best matches your feelings. I feel excited about seeing As You Like It. Disagree Agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 I want to learn more about Theater. Disagree Agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 I have been to see plays before. None Some Many 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Name some plays you have seen? Theater is fun! Disagree Agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 I like Shakespeare’s writing. Disagree Agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Seeing a play can teach me about life. Disagree Agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Theater is more real than television and movies. Disagree Agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Comments:

Student Initials:

55

Post-Performance Questionnaire After seeing As You Like It, please rate the following statements on a scale from 1 to 7. “1” represents something with which you strongly disagree “7” represents something with which you strongly agree. Circle the number that best matches your feelings. I enjoyed seeing As You Like It. Disagree Agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 I want to learn more about Theater. Disagree Agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 As You Like It was better than other plays I have seen before. Disagree Agree

I have 1 2 3 4 5 6 never

seen a play. I want to see more theater. Disagree Agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 I like Shakespeare’s writing. Disagree Agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Seeing As You Like It taught me something about life. Disagree Agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Theater is more real than television and movies. Disagree Agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 What did As You Like It say about the relationship between Men and Women?

56

Comments:

Student Initials: